JAMES MCLAUGHLIN:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

Expand/CollapseOVERVIEW

Creator: McLaughlin, James, 1842-1923, creator.
Title:James McLaughlin papers.
Dates:1855-1937.
Language:Materials in English.
Abstract:Letters, applications for land patents, publications, financial records, notebooks, letter books, and other papers relating to McLaughlin's work as Dakota Indian agent at the Devils Lake and Standing Rock reservations in North Dakota (1876-1895) and as agency inspector and treaty negotiator for the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs (1895-1923).
Quantity:38 microfilm reels and 16 items.
Location: See Detailed Description for shelf locations.

Expand/CollapseBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

James McLaughlin. United States Indian Service Agent from 1876-1895. Appointed Special Inspector of the Interior Department in 1913.James McLaughlin was born on February 12, 1842 in Avonmore, Ontario. He was born to parents Felix and Mary McLaughlin, the sixth of nine children.

He emigrated to the United States in 1863. In St. Paul, Minnesota, he worked as a blacksmith. Soon after, he relocated to Owatonna, Minnesota, and married his wife Marie Louise Buission, a women of mixed-blood descent (Mdewakanton, Québécois, and Scottish).

In 1871, McLaughlin was hired by Major W.H. Forbes at Fort Totten, North Dakota as a blacksmith and general overseer for the newly established Devils Lake Agency in the Dakota Territory. There he studied to become a United States Indian Agent, and was appointed an agent of the Devils Lake Agency in 1876. At the agency, he worked with members of the Sisseton Wahpeton tribe.

In 1881, McLaughlin was promoted and reassigned to the larger Standing Rock Sioux Agency, where he worked with numerous Lakota bands. McLaughlin advocated cultural assimilation, pressuring the bands at Standing Rock to adopt Western culture, education, and farming practices, and promoted land-allotment as a means for achieving self-sufficiency through subsistence farming. In 1888, he led a delegation to Washington D.C. with a number of chiefs of Indian agents from Standing Rock to meet with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to discuss the implementation of the Dawes Act of 1887.

On December 15, 1890, McLaughlin ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull at Standing Rock in fears that the Lakota leader would leave the reservation to join the Ghost Dancers at Pine Ridge. The attempted arrest contributed to the death of Sitting Bull, and the subsequent Wounded Knee Massacre that followed on December 29, 1890.

McLaughlin was promoted to Inspector for the Indian Department of the Department of the Interior in 1895, and relocated to Washington D.C. In 1910, McLaughlin published his memoir My Friend the Indian.

James McLaughlin died in Washington, D.C. in 1923. He is buried in McLaughlin, South Dakota, the town named after him.


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Expand/CollapseSCOPE AND CONTENTS

The records concern his inspections and negotiations at agencies throughout the U.S. and his work in determining the competency of Indians for citizenship and land patents. There is also much information on the administration of the Devils Lake and Standing Rock agencies, McLaughlin's investments in lands and mines in Utah and the Black Hills of South Dakota, Rodman Wanamaker's inspection tour of U.S. Indian agencies (1913), the Ghost Dance movement (1890-1891), the death of Sitting Bull (1890), reservation settlement, school inspections, and land cessions and claims.


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Expand/CollapseARRANGEMENT

These papers are organized into the following sections:

Letters
Microfilm


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Expand/CollapseOTHER FINDING AIDS

A pamphlet guide to the microfilm edition edited by Louis Pfaller and published by Assumption College is available in the library filed as M230.

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Expand/CollapseADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. James McLaughlin Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Microfilm Production:

Saint Paul : Dakota Microfilm, 1968.

Location of Originals:

Originals: Assumption Abbey Archives; Richardton, ND

Originals: National Archives (Record Groups: 48, 75, 98, and Special Case 188); Washington, D.C.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 5291; 6070; 9702; 10,875

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017318770104294


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DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Expand/CollapseLETTERS

LocationFolder
P31431McLaughlin (James H.): Papers, 1842-1923. 16 items.
Letters written to and by the Indian agent James McLaughlin at Standing Rock, Dakota Territory, regarding a buffalo hunt and Sitting Bull, one of which is a letter in Dakota and is accompanied by a translation; letters from the department of Interior to James McLaughlin, in regard to negotiating with the Yankton Dakota for the Pipestone reservation of Minnesota to be made into a national park.

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Expand/CollapseMICROFILM

The microfilm reels are reproductions of the Major James McLaughlin Papers that were edited by Louis Pfaller and published into a pamphlet guide by Assumption College of Richardton, North Dakota in 1969. Reels 1-30 contain items that were borrowed from McLauglin's descendants or in the possession of Assumption College, and reels 31-37 contain items selected by the editor Pfaller from the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Groups 48, 75, 98, and Special Case 188 to include the papers. The reel descriptions provided in this series have been adapted from the original pamphlet guide.


LocationReel
M2301Letters, 1855-1880.
Includes letters that precede McLaughlin's appointment as Indian Agent in 1876. Additional correspondence documents the affairs of the Devils Lake Agency, as well as agencies at Fort Berthold, Standing Rock, Sisseton, and some mentions of activities in Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana.
LocationReel
M2302Letters, 1881-1900.
Correspondence that supplements documents in the letterbooks on Reels 19 to 23. The correspondence discusses McLaughlin's final months as agent at Devils Lake Agency, his tenure at the Standing Rock Agency, and his first years as U.S. Indian Inspector. The remaining correspondence deals with his work in fourteen states, most prominently in South Dakota and Oklahoma. South Dakota related correspondence discusses McLaughlin's investments in a Black Hills mine.
LocationReel
M2303Letters, 1901-1909.
Papers that document McLaughlin's treaty negotiation and conflict resolution activities at thirty-six agencies in fourteen states, predominantly in Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Idaho. Some accounts are also documented for the states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, and Oregon. The papers also focus on McLaughlin's investments in Utah and Black Hills mines, and McLaughlin, South Dakota, the townsite named after him. Papers related to McLaughlin's treaty and negotiation work can also be found in the letterbooks on Reels 24 to 28.
LocationReel
M2304Letters, 1910-1912.
Includes papers that document McLaughlin's negotiations and inspections in the Indian agencies of New York, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wisconsin. The reel also includes papers related to McLaughlin's interests in mining in Utah, sale of lots in McLaughlin, South Dakota, and sale of his book My Friend the Indian. Reel 29 includes similar materials related to negotiations and inspections for various agencies.
LocationReel
M2305Letters, 1913-1914.
Includes correspondence related to the arrangement of visits of the Rodman Wanamaker Expedition of 1913 to various Indian agencies in the states of South Dakota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Washington, Montana, Arizona, California, Idaho, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming. Reel 30 also contains reports on the Rodman Wanamaker Expedition of 1913.
LocationReel
M2306Letters, 1915-April 1916.
The reel documents conflicts at the Indian agencies of Colorado and Utah; the citizenship program of Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior; McLaughlin's work determining eligibility for citizenship in South Dakota, primarily at the Yankton and Cheyenne River Agencies; and the development of land allotments on tribal lands in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Minnesota, and six other states.
LocationReel
M2307Letters, 1916 May-December.
The reel is a continuation of McLaughlin's working with various Native American communities in determining competence for land allotments and managing their own businesses. The reel contains applications for patents in fee for about two hundred individuals, primarily in South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska. Also included is some correspondence on the agencies in each of the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, and Oklahoma.
LocationReel
M2308Letters, 1917 January-September.
Half the reel includes applications for patents from Lakota and Dakota individuals in South Dakota, mostly on the Cheyenne and Yankton Agencies. A portion of the reel provides family history of individual Chippewa (Objibwe) collected by McLaughlin in taking their census in preparation for establishing the Rocky Boy Agency in Montana. Additional correspondence discuss the Utes of Colorado and Utah, and the purchase of lands for the Mille Lacs Chippewa (Ojibwe) in Minnesota. Some items are also from North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
LocationReel
M2309Letters, October 1917-June 1918.
This reel includes applications of individuals for patents in fee. The applicants are mostly from the Standing Rock Agency and the Fort Berthold Agency in North Dakota. Applications are also included from agencies in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The Oklahoma material also documents an investigation of the Osage Agency. There are correspondence on the Rocky Boy in Montana and Mille Lacs Chippewa (Ojibwe) land in Minnesota, and some items related to McLaughlin's personal business.
LocationReel
M23010Letters, July 1918-June 1919.
Half of the reel covers allotment work with the Cree in Oklahoma. The reel also includes information regrading an investigation at the Malki Agency in California, and the remaining portions of the reel discuss activities in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington.
LocationReel
M23011Letters, July 1919-July 5, 1920.
Half the reel includes applications for patents in fee at the Standing Rock Agency. Similar records are included for the Winnebago Agency in Nebraska, the Cheyenne River Agency in South Dakota, and the Kickapoo Agency in Kansas. The letters also contain information on the Wounded Knee investigation conducted by McLaughlin at the agencies of Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, and Pine Ridge.
LocationReel
M23012Letters, July 7-September 11, 1920.
The bulk of the reel covers the Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and includes genealogical information on three hundred and seventy applications. A smaller portion of the reel deals with work at other reservations and McLaughlin's personal business.
LocationReel
M23013Letters, September 18, 1920-1937.
The reel documents McLaughlin's inspection work on agencies in sixteen states, most prominently in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, and Nevada. The reel also contains: personal business correspondence; correspondence celebrating and commemorating McLaughlin's fifty years as an Indian agent; McLaughlin's last will and testament; and a business paper created in the execution of his will.
LocationReel
M23014Letters, vouchers, and miscellaneous papers, undated.
The Undated Letters section makes up the first part of the reel. The Vouchers section includes employee lists, estimates of funds, and other reports to the Indian Office, which primarily covers the reports from the Devils Lake Agency and the Standing Rock Agency (1976-1923). The General Directions (1902-1923) section of the reel includes mimeographed instructions sent to employees by the President and various officials in the Department of the Interior. Lastly, the Four Newspapers section includes the articles from the following newspapers: The Word Carrier (March 1888); The Indian Helper (November 30, 1888); The Winona Times (North Dakota) (March 3, 1898); and The Tomahawk (April 9, 1903).
LocationReel
M23015Miscellaneous reports and publications.
The reel includes: newspaper clippings and magazine articles on various Native American communities and government publications regarding agreements and negotiations with tribes in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington. The reel also includes the following: an outline of land-cession treaties with the Shawnee, Chippewa, Sioux, Otoe, Missouria and other tribes; a portion of the court record book at the Standing Rock Agency (1885-1886); and memoirs and notes regarding Annie Goudreau McLaughlin.
LocationReel
M23016Notebooks 1-21, 1870-1908.
Includes pocket notebooks that generally contain miscellaneous information, including addresses, field notes, records of personal and official expenses, and letter drafts. More notable notebooks include: Notebook 12, which contains list of guns and horses taken following the death of Sitting Bull; Notebook 13, which lists payment in silver made for confiscated ponies from the Lakota at Standing Rock; Notebook 19, which regards McLaughlin's book, My Friend the Indian; and Notebook 20, which regards information on the investigation of frauds at the Osage Agency in Oklahoma.
LocationReel
M23017Notebooks, 22-44, 1909-1924.
Includes additional notebooks with miscellaneous information, and numerous notebooks regarding individual land allotments: Notebook 30. North and South Dakota (1918); Notebook 31. Wisconsin (1917); Notebook 32. Oklahoma (1918); Notebook 33. Wyoming (1918); Notebook 35. Nebraska (1919); Notebooks 36-37. Standing Rock Agency, North Dakota (1919); and Notebook 38. Cheyenne River Agency, South Dakota (1919). Notebook 40 includes notes on the Wounded Knee investigation of 1920.
LocationReel
M23018Checkbooks, 1874-1923.
Check stubs from McLaughlin's personal and official checkbooks. The checks are primarily from 1874 to 1895 when he worked at the Devils Lake and Standing Rock Agencies, and include McLaughlin's notes, which provide details on employees and expenses.
LocationReel
M23019Letterbook, 1878-1881.
Letterbook that contains correspondence regarding the affairs of the Devils Lake Agency in the Dakota Territory and its surrounding reservations in the Dakota territory, including Standing Rock, Turtle Mountain, Fort Berthold, and Sisseton.
LocationReel
M23020Letterbooks, 1881-1890.
Letterbook deals with the affairs of the Standing Rock Agency and correspondence regarding Sitting Bull, the Messiah Craze (Ghost Dance), McLaughlin's order to arrest Sitting Bull, and Sitting Bull's death. Additional correspondence regard the Hampton Institute in Virginia, Herbert Welsh, and Bishop Martin Marty.
LocationReel
M23021Letterbook (1890) and Census book (1891-1892), 1890-1892.
The letterbook covers affairs at the Standing Rock Agency from May 5 to December 13, 1890, and tracks the history of the Ghost Dance and the Messiah Craze. The letterbook also contains an index of names. The census book on the reel provides a 300-page list of Standing Rock individuals, which provides Native American and English names, ages, and family relationship.
LocationReel
M23022Letterbooks, 1891-1897.
Includes two letterbooks. The first letterbook (1891-1895) covers McLaughlin’s last four years at the Standing Rock Agency, and the aftermath following the Messiah Craze and the death of Sitting Bull. The second letterbook (1896-1897) documents McLaughlin’s first years as a United States Indian Inspector for the Department of the Interior, and his work with reservations in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
LocationReel
M23023Letterbooks, 1897-1900.
The letterbooks contains reports on the settling of land disputes, including: land disputes between the Native American and white populations of Tuba City, Arizona; land disputes on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana; and land disputes at Pipestone Quarry in Minnesota, and land claims by the Otoe and Missouria in Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. The letterbooks also include reports regarding investigations of Indian Schools in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and correspondence related to the settling of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, and other activities on South Dakota reservations.
LocationReel
M23024Letterbooks, 1900-1902.
Contains letterbooks regarding McLaughlin’s American Indian boarding school and agency investigations and land agreements (April 1900- February 1902) in the states of South Dakota, Washington, Montana, Oregon, North Dakota, Utah, California, and Arizona.
LocationReel
M23025Letterbooks, 1902-1903.
Includes several reports of McLaughlin's councils with tribes on land agreements and investigations of complaints (February 1902 and May 1903) at the Red Lake and White Earth reservations in Minnesota, the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, and disputes in other states, including North Dakota, Utah, Oklahoma, Washington, Arizona, and California.
LocationReel
M23026Letterbooks, 1903-1905.
The letterbooks include investigations, councils for cession of land, and enrollment of tribal members for funds, including: the Loyal Creek claims in Oklahoma; the Santee Claims in Nebraska; and similar affairs in the states of South Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Utah.
LocationReel
M23027Letterbooks, 1905-1907.
Letterbooks consisting of McLaughlin's correspondence and reports on the investigation of frauds on the Osage Agency in Oklahoma, minutes of councils, and the terms of agreements in the states of Minnesota, South Dakota (primarily Rosebud), Wyoming, Washington, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Idaho, North Dakota, and Utah.
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M23028Letterbooks, 1907-1909.
Letterbooks include: correspondence regarding McLaughlin's enrollment of the Sisseton and Wahpeton in the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, and Nebraska; negotiations and minutes of his council with the Kickapoos of Oklahoma and Mexico; and affairs at agencies in Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Wisconsin.
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M23029Letterbooks, 1909-1913.
Letterbooks consist of minutes of councils with the Dakota people regarding their opening of the surplus lands and inspection reports for agencies in the states of Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Montana, New Mexico, Minnesota, Arizona, Nebraska, and New York.
LocationReel
M23030Rodman Wanamaker Expedition of 1913.
Includes McLaughlin’s complete report of the Wanamaker Expedition, which was led by lecturer, clergyman, and photographer Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, who promoted citizenship for Native Americans. The expedition included visits to ninety-nine reservations in seventeen states. The states covered includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The report covers conditions at agencies and councils held with various tribes.
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M23031National Archives documents: Fort Totten (1870-1884) and Fort Yates (1881-1891), 1870-1891.
Includes documents selected by editor Louis Pfaller from Record Group 98. which relates to McLaughlin's activities at the Devils Lake and Standing Rock Agencies. Consists of documentation of Sitting Bull's ordered arrest and death.
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M23032National Archives documents, 1881-1886.
Includes documents selected by editor Louis Pfaller from Record Group 75, which details information on the surrender of Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa at Fort Buford in 1881. Materials also discuss affairs at the Standing Rock Reservation, including policing of the reservation, controlling of squatters, squawmen, and outside buffalo hunters, as well as letters and reports regarding education and farming on the reservation.
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M23033National Archives documents, 1887-1889.
Includes additional documents selected from Record Group 75. The documents are related to affairs at the Standing Rock Reservation, and cover the following topics: treating of schools, missions, Wild West Shows, and land cessions. Other reservations mentioned in the documents include Crow Creek, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud.
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M23034National Archives documents (Standing Rock), 1890-1891.
Includes additional documents selected from Record Group 75. The reel covers Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, Rosebud, and a handful of issues at other agencies.
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M23035National Archives documents (Messiah Craze), 1890-1891.
Includes additional documents from Record Group 75 and from Special Case 188. The Special Case 188 materials focus on research for the history of the Ghost Dance prepared and written by ethnographer James Mooney. The bulk of the reel includes Special Case 188, and consists of information regarding troubles at Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, and Standing Rock agencies. There are also documents on the Ghost Dance movement at the agencies in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.
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M23036National Archives documents, 1892-1895.
Includes additional documents selected from Record Group 75. The reel covers the affairs of the Standing Rock Agency after James McLaughlin's tenure from the agency (January 1892-March 1895). The reel consists of reports on school, farming, and other operations, and some documents include complaints and investigations against McLaughlin.
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M23037National Archives documents, appointments, and reports, 1875-1876, 1880-1895.
Includes documents related to applications and recommendations for the office of Agent at Standing Rock Agency (1880-1895), which were selected from Record Group 48. A second section consists of annual reports from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and deals with the Dakota and Lakota populations at Devils Lake and Standing Rock agencies.
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M23038Index rolls, A-Z.
Contains 15,675 cross-reference cards, which give the exact frame numbers on the reels, helping to narrow information on individual persons and Indian agencies.

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Expand/CollapseCATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:
American bison.
Citizenship -- United States.
Dakota Indians -- Census.
Dakota Indians -- Genealogy.
Dakota Indians -- Government relations.
Ghost dance.
Indian reservations -- Minnesota.
Indian reservations -- North Dakota.
Indian reservations -- South Dakota.
Indians -- Land tenure.
Indians of North America -- Census.
Indians of North America -- Education.
Indians of North America -- Genealogy.
Indians of North America -- Government relations.
Indians of North America -- Land tenure.
Indians of North America -- Treaties.
Land grants -- United States.
Mines and mineral resources -- Black Hills (S.D. and Wyo.).
Mines and mineral resources -- Utah.
Ojibwa Indians -- Census.
Ojibwa Indians -- Genealogy.
Wounded Knee Massacre, S.D., 1890.
Persons:
Lane, Franklin K.
Sitting Bull, 1831-1890
Wanamaker, Rodman, 1863-1928.
Places:
Fort Totten Indian Reservation (N.D.)
McLaughlin (S.D.)
Pipestone Indian Reservation (Minn.)
Standing Rock Indian Reservation (N.D. and S.D.)
Document Types:
Microforms.
Occupations:
Indian agents -- United States.

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